1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thermoelectric device having a plurality of thermoelements arranged to improve the efficiency and the manufacturability of the thermoelectric device as compared to conventional thermoelectric device arrangements.
2. Discussion of the Background
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,300,150, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference, a thermoelectric device and method for manufacturing the same are disclosed, where a plurality of thermoelements (p, n) are disposed on the same side of a header, as shown in FIG. 6 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,300,150. The surface of the interconnecting members is parallel to the header surface. A cross-section of this device is shown in FIG. 1.
The device includes a plurality of thermoelements that are disposed on the same side of a cooling header. A p thermoelement 13 is connected on one side by metalization 12 to an electrical lead 11 on a first heat sink 10. The Peltier junction metalization (e.g. Cr/Au, Ni/Au, Cr/Au/Ni/Au), is electrically conductive. On the other side p thermoelement 13 is connected to a heat source (i.e., a header) 17 by Peltier junction metalization 16. Element 14 is an ohmic metallization such as Cr/Au and element 15 is a diffusion barrier like Ni. An n thermoelement 19 is connected on one side by Peltier junction metalization 20 to electrical lead 21 on heat sink 10. On the other side n thermoelement 19 is connected to heat source 17 by Peltier junction metalization 16. Element 18 is an ohmic metallization like element 14. The voltage polarities (+,−) are shown for cooling.
There is one heat sink 10 common for both of the p and n thermoelements 13 and 19, and one heat-source (i.e., a header) 17 common to the thermoelements. The n and p elements are intermingled on the same side of header 17 during module fabrication, which can complicate the manufacturing process.